Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 764 Desert Tracking (Second Update)

"If that monster found you, why doesn't it come down?"

"I don't know." Will shook his head. "Maybe it's because it and I are the only two living beings on this planet, or maybe it's watching me, watching humanity. I've found traces of alien civilizations before, but they've all been buried in dust. I don't know how old those buildings are, but I think that alien monster may have destroyed a civilization."

"Was there ever a civilization here?"

"There was once a civilization here, with technology slightly more advanced than our current human civilization," Salomon replied. They were standing on a cliff, below which stood stone towers eroded by wind and sand like thickets of trees. A lost squad was nestled among the ruins, seeking refuge from the sandstorm, but the labyrinthine passages made progress extremely difficult. Catherine was communicating with them, providing guidance and fire support, directing them with the sound of her explosive guns.

"This city must have been formed before the desert appeared, otherwise those aliens would never have built a city in the lowlands." Guard Zero pointed to the tower below. "Even if the Inhuman monsters had eaten all the plants, this planet would never have fallen to this state. I think war is the main reason."

"Civil War," the arcane mage nodded. In the dim light, the muzzle flash of Catherine's explosive gun was the only source of light. The Sisterhood didn't have the high-beam searchlights mounted on their bodies; doing so in this environment would only attract potential predators. "Remember what I said about that monster's characteristics?" Salomon said, "It devours flesh and memories, lurking within its host and manipulating life. You can imagine that trust between individuals within the intelligent species was almost nonexistent, just like the world's water source. Social order collapsed, chaos spread, providing that monster with an excellent hunting environment. But civil war can't wipe out the entire planet's vegetation, so we might be facing a very hungry monster."

"The death of this civilization was extremely protracted; no other civilization could have withstood such a catastrophe. Perhaps this is why we discovered so many alien skeletons with prosthetic limbs—they wanted to escape the distrust that flesh and blood brought," Zero commented. "This is a very interesting social science question. I believe that at some point, the surviving aliens began to mechanize themselves. They might even have formed groups that underwent similar modifications. It's fascinating how long-standing blood ties were replaced by modified relationships..."

"My lord, they've arrived," Catherine interrupted Zero's long-winded speech. Although she was wearing a helmet, Zero felt she glared at him, as if reprimanding him for diverting the monarch's attention to societal issues. "Please allow us to inspect them. If that monster can infiltrate and manipulate intelligent beings, I believe we need to raise the security level."

"Agreed, I will help you with the check," the arcane mage said. In the most extreme case, the air here would certainly be teeming with Inhuman nanites. Even though this civilization has been destroyed, no one who comes to this planet can afford to be careless. If that parasite could be detected using biological detection methods, then the aliens of this civilization would have already waged war on the Hive. Or perhaps they did manage to, but it was too late; social order had collapsed, and the survivors were hunted down until their numbers fell below the minimum required for the population's development, and then they were completely wiped out.

As planned, all squads were to head towards Salomon's location, while Salomon tracked Leopold Fitz. While the monster's main body was still some distance away, he intended to send the reckless fellow back. This was to uphold his promise; he had to do it—he had already communicated to all squad leaders, instructing them to capture Leopold Fitz immediately if they found him, even if it meant breaking his leg, and bring him back. Salomon had a premonition that allowing Leopold Fitz to roam freely would have an irreversible and disastrous impact on the operation.

Instead of using biological detection, Salomon directly probed the minds of all the squad members. After confirming that they were not infected, Catherine lowered her gun and chainsaw.

"For my lord." The squad leader of the second squad nodded, obediently joining the battle formation Catherine had prepared for them. Salomon greeted them warmly, calling out their names one by one. He didn't need the display in his knight's helmet or the personalized decorations on their armor to recognize them. Catherine turned to Salomon and said, "My lord, two more squads are approaching. We must hurry."

"My Lord!" The arcane mage heard the voice of another squad through his helmet headset. The monitor showed that this squad belonged to the T (eta) squad. "Scouts have discovered human footprints."

"Report location!" Salomon said. "No contact until the target is confirmed to be Leopold Fitz."

"There are people there!" Will suddenly dropped to the ground, clutching his spear and pistol tightly.

The sandstorm that had enveloped their cave had just passed, and Will and Simmons couldn't wait to go out to find water. Long-term desert life had forced him to learn how to find water—there were many underground rivers beneath the desert. On Earth, one could easily determine the course of these rivers by observing the vegetation, but on this planet, almost all biomass had disappeared for unknown reasons, so Will could only rely on a groundwater detector to find a stable source of water.

However, the underground water detector had long been damaged, and for years Will could only pray that the sandstorms wouldn't dry up the underground river. After rescuing Simmons, the female scientist helped him repair the broken relic. He planned to take Simmons away from their home to find a new water source and fulfill the female scientist's wish to take a bath.

"Who?" Simmons' eyes widened, still not understanding what was happening. "Could it be...?"

"It shouldn't be that monster. That monster is always accompanied by sandstorms, and there wouldn't be this many of them." Will and Simmons cautiously peeked out, observing the distant figures through their binoculars. "They seem to have spotted our footprints," Will said, annoyed. "I've been here too long and completely forgot to camouflage myself."

"Maybe they've come to rescue us?" Simmons swallowed hard; she was both thirsty and hungry. Away from the cave, water and food were even more precious; after all, no one knew if they would get lost in this vast desert. There were too many unexpected things here. Landmarks could be buried by sandstorms at any moment, and the ever-changing dunes obscured the mountains, providing no reliable landmarks. Even Will had been lost many times; if he hadn't been incredibly lucky, he would never have been able to climb back to his cave.

"They're armed, we'd better get out of here." With his military experience, Will didn't hesitate and immediately pulled Simmons back. In his plan, he would use his own footprints to guide the pursuers away from the water source and caves he had previously discovered. The plan was excellent, but years of malnutrition had severely weakened him, to the point that in the end, Simmons had to pull him along.

"We still have guns, Will," she said breathlessly. "We can set a trap!"

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(End of this chapter)